1. If more members (including retirees) don’t vote, at a rate higher than what we’ve historically seen (roughly 25% turnout), Mulgrew and Unity will likely win.
2. If members opposed to Mulgrew and Unity split the vote between A Better Contract and Arise, there’s a very good chance Unity ekes out a plurality win (meaning a majority vote against Unity but Unity ends up with the largest individual share). Arise has a few solid candidates, but they are running a nearly all-white officer slate, they have one-fifth of ABC’s social media reach, they’ve held a fraction of the events we have, and their affiliation with MORE significantly handicaps their support (I’m not saying that criticism occurring is fair one way or the other, but that it’s occurring is axiomatically true). This is likely our only shot to oust Unity, and only one slate is actually viable.
Folks need to vote with their hearts *and* their heads if we want to prevail and bring real democracy to the UFT.
Steve, I am someone who is still deeply disappointed in this fissure in the opposition to Unity, between ABC and ARISE. I still don’t fully understand how it came to be and feel like it was a gift-wrapped present for the Unity bunch. I still hope against hope that ABC and ARISE might find a way to merge and put up a really strong alternative to Unity, but I know that’s wishful thinking at this stage of the game.
Soooo….. because I still need to make up my mind as to which side to support and vote for (ABC or ARISE is the only choice for me), I am keenly interested in numbers. Both ABC and ARISE claim that they can win, but I don’t know what that claim is based on. You claim that ABC has a much greater social media reach. What is that based on?
Any clarity you can bring would be greatly appreciated, by me and other fence-sitters. I want my vote to go to the side with the best chance to topple Unity.
I believe ABC has a chance to win even with two slates. We wear away Unity votes from the past. But most important is that we have been able to reach deeper into schools that have not been active and probably had low voter turnout in the past. Having been very active in the last election with many of the same players, we didn't see a very high level of outreach that bumped the vote from past elections. Can they do much better now? If they do then more power to them. I refer to my previous comment on breaking the Unity 60 year grip on the UFT and ABC has the only path forward to do that.
I’m on my way to work and can’t answer this comprehensively at this time, but ABC currently has 872 followers on FB and 469 followers on IG to Arise’s 187 and 443. Our candidate for VP of Elementary Schools is a well-known UFT member with over 5000 IG followers (besides being an experienced chapter leader). Our candidate for VP of Middle Schools has a blog with a following of about 20,000 members. Arthur, our candidate for Assistant secretary, has a following of at least 6000. we also have the support of the Fix Para Pay movement and we are courting the support of Marianne Pizzitola, whose advocacy around Medicare advantage helped the retirees reclaim control of their chapter from Unity.
So again, this is in no way a comprehensive response, but A Better Contract is the slate to beat. It’s why we’re being attacked by Unity and Arise alike.
A number of years ago I asked Weingarten, to her face, why the Union wouldn't shut down after school/summer school programs for one year, so the Union could bargain from a position of strength for overtime pay (time and a half) based on a teacher's actual salary. She claimed that would be a violation of the Taylor Law. I replied that individual teachers could not be held responsible for NOT VOLUNTEERING to work after hours. But she was afraid to say that possibly Union officers could. She also, at the same time, said that the coming longer school day would NOT give overtime pay for the longer hours because teachers "didn't punch a time clock". I replied, "Put me back on the friggin' clock and give me overtime." She again had no answer.
I did a lot of extra work as chapter leader, but very rarely volunteered to work after school. We did international festivals to raise money and awareness, but generally I've gotten paid whenever I did anything extra for schools. You'll always have people bucking to be AP. They'll do anything. Also, folks trying to earn tenure might go out of their way. But I really tried to keep my school work restricted to school time. Maybe we can support members better to make sure that happens as a matter of course. I do know people who do way too much work, to their personal detriment, and I'm not persuaded that serves kids better.
Let’s say unity does win with under 50% - a plurality. People seem horrified at the idea. Oh if we had one slate we could have won. I say no. The only one slate possibility gave the 3 caucuses in arise 75% of the candidates and would have shut out all the new candidates ABC has organized in a relatively short time, thus echoing Steve’s point that the only way to win is to tap the 75% who don’t vote and I think ABC is making inroads. The vote will show just how deep. The one slate choice was to fundamentally count on the retiree vote if it echoed the chapter election vote of last spring. We wanted to break that pattern of retirees deciding an election that affects working educators. And don’t forget the Marianne factor in that vote. And also the chance for ABC to activate the 27k para vote through fix para pay which supports ABC. I won’t make as big a deal of the arise almost all white officer slate though it indicates a lack of ability to reach people with their anti racism message as if saying it really means anything- like mulgrew saying he opposes med adv. I sat at meetings for 8 years where this was mentioned and 12 years into mores history they show much less diversity than unjty. And it’s abc alliance with unity people that has helped abc forge a more diverse slate. Actions do speak louder than words. But let me go back to my main point. If unity wins by plurality they will be severely weakened and mulgrew. Will be gone within a year or two. It offers an opportunity for arise and abc to heal wounds and forge a broad based united front. But as long as they cling to the idea that caucuses must be in charge that will be a problem. Sure they must exist but they also must free the 95% non caucus forces to organize.
👏👏👏👏👏
Two things that need to be said:
1. If more members (including retirees) don’t vote, at a rate higher than what we’ve historically seen (roughly 25% turnout), Mulgrew and Unity will likely win.
2. If members opposed to Mulgrew and Unity split the vote between A Better Contract and Arise, there’s a very good chance Unity ekes out a plurality win (meaning a majority vote against Unity but Unity ends up with the largest individual share). Arise has a few solid candidates, but they are running a nearly all-white officer slate, they have one-fifth of ABC’s social media reach, they’ve held a fraction of the events we have, and their affiliation with MORE significantly handicaps their support (I’m not saying that criticism occurring is fair one way or the other, but that it’s occurring is axiomatically true). This is likely our only shot to oust Unity, and only one slate is actually viable.
Folks need to vote with their hearts *and* their heads if we want to prevail and bring real democracy to the UFT.
Steve, I am someone who is still deeply disappointed in this fissure in the opposition to Unity, between ABC and ARISE. I still don’t fully understand how it came to be and feel like it was a gift-wrapped present for the Unity bunch. I still hope against hope that ABC and ARISE might find a way to merge and put up a really strong alternative to Unity, but I know that’s wishful thinking at this stage of the game.
Soooo….. because I still need to make up my mind as to which side to support and vote for (ABC or ARISE is the only choice for me), I am keenly interested in numbers. Both ABC and ARISE claim that they can win, but I don’t know what that claim is based on. You claim that ABC has a much greater social media reach. What is that based on?
Any clarity you can bring would be greatly appreciated, by me and other fence-sitters. I want my vote to go to the side with the best chance to topple Unity.
Thanks!
I believe ABC has a chance to win even with two slates. We wear away Unity votes from the past. But most important is that we have been able to reach deeper into schools that have not been active and probably had low voter turnout in the past. Having been very active in the last election with many of the same players, we didn't see a very high level of outreach that bumped the vote from past elections. Can they do much better now? If they do then more power to them. I refer to my previous comment on breaking the Unity 60 year grip on the UFT and ABC has the only path forward to do that.
I’m on my way to work and can’t answer this comprehensively at this time, but ABC currently has 872 followers on FB and 469 followers on IG to Arise’s 187 and 443. Our candidate for VP of Elementary Schools is a well-known UFT member with over 5000 IG followers (besides being an experienced chapter leader). Our candidate for VP of Middle Schools has a blog with a following of about 20,000 members. Arthur, our candidate for Assistant secretary, has a following of at least 6000. we also have the support of the Fix Para Pay movement and we are courting the support of Marianne Pizzitola, whose advocacy around Medicare advantage helped the retirees reclaim control of their chapter from Unity.
So again, this is in no way a comprehensive response, but A Better Contract is the slate to beat. It’s why we’re being attacked by Unity and Arise alike.
A number of years ago I asked Weingarten, to her face, why the Union wouldn't shut down after school/summer school programs for one year, so the Union could bargain from a position of strength for overtime pay (time and a half) based on a teacher's actual salary. She claimed that would be a violation of the Taylor Law. I replied that individual teachers could not be held responsible for NOT VOLUNTEERING to work after hours. But she was afraid to say that possibly Union officers could. She also, at the same time, said that the coming longer school day would NOT give overtime pay for the longer hours because teachers "didn't punch a time clock". I replied, "Put me back on the friggin' clock and give me overtime." She again had no answer.
I did a lot of extra work as chapter leader, but very rarely volunteered to work after school. We did international festivals to raise money and awareness, but generally I've gotten paid whenever I did anything extra for schools. You'll always have people bucking to be AP. They'll do anything. Also, folks trying to earn tenure might go out of their way. But I really tried to keep my school work restricted to school time. Maybe we can support members better to make sure that happens as a matter of course. I do know people who do way too much work, to their personal detriment, and I'm not persuaded that serves kids better.
Let’s say unity does win with under 50% - a plurality. People seem horrified at the idea. Oh if we had one slate we could have won. I say no. The only one slate possibility gave the 3 caucuses in arise 75% of the candidates and would have shut out all the new candidates ABC has organized in a relatively short time, thus echoing Steve’s point that the only way to win is to tap the 75% who don’t vote and I think ABC is making inroads. The vote will show just how deep. The one slate choice was to fundamentally count on the retiree vote if it echoed the chapter election vote of last spring. We wanted to break that pattern of retirees deciding an election that affects working educators. And don’t forget the Marianne factor in that vote. And also the chance for ABC to activate the 27k para vote through fix para pay which supports ABC. I won’t make as big a deal of the arise almost all white officer slate though it indicates a lack of ability to reach people with their anti racism message as if saying it really means anything- like mulgrew saying he opposes med adv. I sat at meetings for 8 years where this was mentioned and 12 years into mores history they show much less diversity than unjty. And it’s abc alliance with unity people that has helped abc forge a more diverse slate. Actions do speak louder than words. But let me go back to my main point. If unity wins by plurality they will be severely weakened and mulgrew. Will be gone within a year or two. It offers an opportunity for arise and abc to heal wounds and forge a broad based united front. But as long as they cling to the idea that caucuses must be in charge that will be a problem. Sure they must exist but they also must free the 95% non caucus forces to organize.